


The Birds Are Singing: Silence Kills

by ImAnIdiot



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Frisk Uses Sign Language, Gender-Neutral Chara, Gender-Neutral Frisk, I suck at this, I'll add more as this goes on, Past Child Abuse, Reader Is Frisk, Selectively Mute Frisk, Sign Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-12 20:11:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12967500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImAnIdiot/pseuds/ImAnIdiot
Summary: What’s going on? Who are you, really? Why am I here you? What is here?You sign fast, but they seem to understand.They sigh, just as uneasy as you, but answer. “You fell down a hole on the surface, this is the Underground, home to monsters, and I am...here to help you.”Or: Chara and Frisk make a deal of sortsOn hiatus, sorry.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I suck so much at this, forgive me please. This is my first Undertale fan fic so please correct me if I get something wrong. Really, any constructive criticism is welcome. Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> I also feel as if I should just forewarn that I don't know very much about sign language, so sorry for any inaccuracies in...translation, I guess? It should be obvious when Frisk signs something, but please tell me if you notice something I could fix.
> 
> ...I have no idea where this story is going, so let's have some fun with this. :)
> 
> TW: past abuse, suicidal thoughts(?)

The wind chills your face; you shiver. You can’t help but wish your parents would come back, but you know they won’t. You know the only reason they came for you last time was because someone called the police. You wonder why they hate you enough to do things like this.

It’s been raining for the past hour and a half and from your place sheltered under the trees all you can feel is the wind and the occasional raindrop. It feels like acid. Your tears keep you warm and you sniffle. You assure yourself it’s just a cold even though it’s really not.

You hug your knees to your chest and try your best to fall asleep against the tree.

 

You wake up to the sound of your own breathing. It’s quite eery, you think, that the forest is so empty you can only hear yourself. The phrase _silence kills_ comes to mind, but you brush it away. You don’t need that kind of thinking this early in the morning and, for all your struggles, you’re still only ten years old.

You pick yourself up slowly, working out all the kinks and soreness that come from sleeping against a tree for several days in a row. You know you’ll still be sore later, but a kid can dream, right?

Picking a random direction, you start walking. _They_ may have left you in the middle of the forest, but you can get yourself out. Well, you hope so, anyway.

As you walk, the sun rises over the treetops and you wonder how many more days this will take. You can’t live off of berries and roots for much longer. Maybe you’ll have the misfortune to eat a bad kind of berry and die. At this point, that would almost be favorable.

_NO!_ You shake your head vigorously. You need to stay strong and thoughts like that aren’t welcome.

You keep walking.

 

It’s been hours. Your legs are sore, but you keep going. How are you supposed to get back if you don’t go forward?

There are still no birds or animals but you pass the time looking at the uneasy flowers sprouted here and there and the trees overhead. You find it almost enjoyable; relaxing, even.

Well, that is, until you make a wrong step and end up falling. You hear the earth crack open around you, but the sound is muffled by your own heartbeat and the rushing wind.

You feel like the fall takes hours and at the same time passes in five seconds but you don’t have time to consider it because by the time your mind is clear enough to process anything, you’re lying on a bed of flowers that push at your back and immense pain everywhere.

That is the first time you die.

 

You wake up to the sound of birds and the smell of flowers. You’re warm and the previous pain is gone. You wonder why.

You sit up and look around; there’s nothing in the small cavern but you and the flowers you’ve landed on. You’ve never seen this type of flower before. You dub them Golden Flowers. _Pretty_ , you think, petting a yellow petal.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” A voice says. Your head shoots up to stare at the speaker. It’s a child around your age wearing green and yellow with hair like yours but neater and lighter in color. Very quickly, you realize they’re incorporeal and can’t hurt you, but you scramble away from them nonetheless; you’re getting an odd vibe from the stranger and, on principle, tend not to trust people. The stranger look at you and sighs at what you’re sure is your scared expression.

“Oh, calm down. I don’t like this, either.” They cross their arms, uneasy. You raise your eyebrows.

 _Who are you?_ You sign at them. You hope they understand.

“Greetings. I am Chara.” They say it monotonously and you think it’s odd of them to say _greetings_ before answering the question, but you ignore it. It’s probably just a weird quirk they have.

 _Hi_ , you sign. You’re confused, but you figure this is as good a way to start as any. _My name is Frisk._

They nod. “Frisk? Okay, cool. Can you stand, Frisk?”

You narrow your eyes but it gets no reaction from this new person. You shrug and try it; might as well take advantage while they’re being nice. Your legs are shaky, but they work. Chara smiles, pleased. You compare it to the blade of a knife. Both Chara and a knife seem equally dangerous; you ponder what would happen if you put them together. The thought makes you shudder and you put your back to the wall.

 _What’s going on? Who are you, really? Why am I here you? What is here?_ You sign fast, but they seem to understand.

They sigh, just as uneasy as you, but answer. “You fell down a hole on the surface, this is the Underground, home to monsters, and I am...here to help you.” They sound reluctant and you nod, pleased you got anything out of that at all. You feel like you understand Chara, to an extent, even though the idea of monsters scares you (you’ve heard the stories) and you wonder if that's how Chara...died?

You swallow. _Are…_ Your hands falter. _Are you dead?_ You rather want them to say no and that you’re dreaming or something, but… Maybe, this situation could be your salvation.

Chara only nods grimly, their mouth pulled into a tight frown. “Sort of,” they say and don’t elaborate. You figure they don’t really need to and you don’t want to provoke them.

You look at the scars on their see-through hands. _Are you like me?_ You sign. What you really mean is: _Did you get those from the same place I got mine?_

“Huh?” They look at you in confusion. You point to the scars on their hands and legs and then to your own; they seem to understand.

Their frown deepens. “We are...alike, I suppose,” they mutter.

You nod and smile sadly. They eye the ground. You step a little away from the wall unconsciously. They seem to sense it and flinch away.

 _Sorry._ You sign. You understand.

“No, no. It’s okay.” They look pained. “We are alike in more ways than one, it would seem.”

You nod in agreement and sympathy.

This time, you meet in the middle and, even though it shouldn’t be possible, you both shake hands tightly and you know it’s a tentative promise to have each others’ backs.  


Even though neither of you trusts the other, you hope the promise doesn’t break and you don’t look back as you follow Chara out of the cavern.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOWIE IT'S AN ACTUAL UPDATE! like seriously though, this is already off to a better start than most fics i've written so i still have hope
> 
> comments are appreciated

You and Chara walk down a hallway after exiting the cavern you landed in. It’s still warm, even though you’re underground, but you’re not complaining. Your clothes are too ripped up to be of any use anyway.

“Howdy!” You and Chara both freeze as odd music begins to play from...somewhere. In front of you is a single Golden Flower...with a face. And it’s talking. You raise your eyebrows and Chara stiffens beside you.

“He can’t see me, so don’t let him know I’m here!” Chara hisses. You nod slightly.

“I’m FLOWEY,” The flower continues. “FLOWEY the FLOWER!” It giggles. “Why’d you make me introduce myself?”

You raise your eyebrows and shift on your feet uneasily. Chara has backed toward the wall.

“It’s rude to act like you don’t know who I am,” it says, and you’re really confused because you _really_ didn’t know who the flower was until now. “Someone ought to teach you proper manners. I guess little old me will have to do.” It doesn’t seem too upset about this. Really, you think it’s a little too happy.

“Ready? Here we go!”

Then, everything shifts.

A red heart flies out in front of you chest and you stumble back a step. The world has shifted to black and white. You seem to be in a different place entirely. Your eyes find Chara’s in the dark; they look determined. You try to look purposeful, too, but you think you fail.

“See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!” As the flower speaks, you poke at the soul experimentally. As if it’s possessed, it moves away. You try to make it come back and, to your pleasure, it does.

“Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV.” The flower sounds pleased with itself.

“What does LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course!” It talks as though answering a question you didn’t ask with an answer you don’t believe. You find it unnerving, as you do with...all of this, really.

“You want some LOVE, don’t you?” _Not really_ , you think. You don’t think this Flower’s idea of love will be very beneficial to your health. Chara makes a displeased face at Flowey. “Don’t worry! I’ll share some with you!” You back away, taking the heart with you. Flowey winks a star and five white pellets fly out of its head.

“Down here, LOVE is spread through…

          “Little, white…

                 “‘ _friendliness pellets_.’”

“Dodge them,” Chara hisses in your ear as though they are afraid the flower will hear them. You wonder if they’re just being paranoid.

“Are you ready?” Flowey asks. _No_ , you think. “Move around! Grab as many as you can!” You dodge as Chara told you to. Flowey doesn’t look pleased.

“Hey buddy, you missed them. Let’s try this again, okay?” More pellets fly at you. Chara, somehow, squeezes your shoulder as you will your soul to dodge. Flowey looks really pissed, now.

“Is this a joke?

“Are you braindead?

“RUN. INTO. THE. **BULLETS**!!!

“er...friendliness pellets…”

You dodge again. The music slows, then stops. Flowey’s face Changes. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a frown cross Chara’s face before it’s replaced by one of controlled neutrality.

“YoU KnoW wHaT’S GoiNg oN HerE, Don’T YoU?  
“yOU JuST WaNTeD tO SeE Me SUfFEr.”

A ring of pellets circles you. You can’t go anywhere. Chara looks...blank.

“ **DIE.** ”

Chara makes a move to stand in front of your protectively, but as it turns out, the action is unnecessary as an odd, very tall...goat-person defeats Flowey in one hit and the bullets disappear. Chara flinches and shrinks back. You frown.

“What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…” Chara gives a huffy laugh next to you. You shift a bit closer to them. “Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am TORIEL, caretaker of the RUINS.” Well, now you know a bit more about where you are, even if ruins don’t sound very welcoming.

“I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come down here in a long time.” You figure Toriel must have a lot of patience to come to the same spot every day to see if a human _may_ have fallen, but you’re thankful she does. The look on Chara’s face makes you think they’re having similar thoughts. You miss the part where Toriel mentions catacombs.

The world goes back to color, then. You’re glad for it.

“This way,” says Toriel, leading the way; you and Chara follow. Walking into the next room, you approach a shining star that reminds you of the Golden Flowers. Chara tells you to tap it and when you do a wave of...determination washes over you. You smile.

 

As Toriel guides you through the ruins, you solve puzzles. Most are rather simple and you find yourself enjoying them, even after Toriel leaves you. She shows you how to talk your way out of fighting, too, which you can tell Chara disagrees with, but decide is better; this rather comes in handy later, when you encounter other monsters in the Ruins. You even meet another ghost. But, whenever you’re not fighting, Chara complains to you the entire time.

“This place is so boring. There’s nothing to do and it hasn’t changed at all.” This is the fifth time they’ve said something along the lines of that and you raise a brow at their antics while hitting a switch. You wonder what they mean by it not changing, but figure it’s not any of your business and that Chara may tell you with time.

_You could always help out_ , You sign, as you walk toward the next room. You and Chara have gotten familiar with each other as you’ve been walking; nothing too serious, just chatting. Well, when _someone_ isn’t whining.

“No. That’s boring, too.” You simply shrug at them, now.

_Fine, then._

“Why are you enjoying this, anyway?” Chara’s voice has an edge of malice that they had when urging you to fight the monsters you encountered. You simply shrug. Needless to say, this doesn’t appease them, but you walk into the next room before they can complain any more.

It’s really starting to grate on your ears.

 

You don’t want to admit it, but you cry when Toriel tells you to turn back and go upstairs to the nice house and, oh, how you _do_ want to, but Chara is telling you to _hurry it up_ and _you really must be on your way_. You hate this.

Toriel wants you to prove yourself, you know, but you aren’t very good at moving the heart, yet and keep getting hit. Chara keeps frowning at you, in what you’re sure is disappointment, and you push yourself harder; you don’t want to disappoint them or Toriel.

You scream as the last one hits you, but still don’t fight, no matter how much Chara tells you to _stop being dumb and ATTACK ALREADY!_ You can do this; you know you can.

By the end, you have scratches on you that are bleeding in currents of red. _This is almost worse than home_ , you think, but Chara, who has given up telling you to attack, tells you to get on with it and you SPARE Toriel again. This time, Toriel lets you go.

You cry more when Toriel tells you to leave and gives you a hug, which you edge away from at first ( _never forget_ ) but eventually accept. Chara huffs and rolls their eyes, but when they think you aren’t watching, you spot them sending a sullen look at the floor. You even think you see them wiping a tear after Toriel tells you to never come back, but you can’t be sure as you were sobbing, yourself.

 

_Where are we going?_ you sign as the two of you walk down a long corridor. Chara looks at you sharply, evidently shocked.

“What do you _mean_ ‘where are we going’? We’re getting you home, obviously.”

You freeze and your eyes widen. You don’t want to go back _there_. Chara seems to realize this and their eyes widen.

“No, no! Not there; never there!” Their words are rushed in panic, but genuine. You feel yourself relax.

_Then where?_

Chara pauses in their nervous floating, sinking lower to the ground briefly, and purses their lips. “I...I can’t tell you…” You frown and they seem to realize that was the wrong thing to say and do another panicked jump. “But! But, I can tell you it’s related to why I’m helping you.”

You take a moment to consider this before you nod slowly. Chara’s here to help; they’d never hurt you. No matter how little you know them, you _know_ they won’t hurt you.

Seeing your nod, Chara gives you a half smile and the two of you continue down the steadily lighter path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i still don't really know what i'm doing with this so update will happen at some point

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter will be out at some point idk


End file.
